Happy Beginning
by Iyeshana
Summary: The ending of one lifetime, but a beginning in other ways. Alice watches as Bella accepts life as her sister, and its consequences. The future for Bella is unclear, even if her future with Edward is lucid. one-shot.


_AN: This is my version of the epilogue of Breaking Dawn. My way of summing up what I think will happen in the story...and my longest chapter ever(I think). Written in Alice's perspective because I love her. just a one-shot, but let me know if I should put this with Cold Feet or something. I might make the two one-shots part of a story or something. I MIGHT, but probably not_

Happy Beginning

_Alice Cullen_

The fact that everything had gone well was absolutely staggering to me. Especially that we'd survived through the entire ordeal. I'd seen it go many ways, where no one had died, and where everyone had suffered. If anyone else had been in harm's way, I knew I could do it. I could jump in the way, I could throw myself before them. I could die. I _would _do it, for my family. For Jasper.

It would have been foolish for me to tell anyone, especially Bella, what I saw coming. She would have panicked, tried to make herself known to both sides that she was ready and willing to die. I saw that if I told her, she would run onto the field to be crushed by the opponents. Once I'd seen that, I knew I just had to wait. Everyone had expected what would come, from the start.

I'd never believed in a concrete fate, since I knew that decisions had a bigger impact on the future than some all-knowing being could have. But when Bella didn't die, someone else had to. I hadn't really thought about the other side, the other person who maybe cared as much about _us _as _them. _There was someone else in between it all, and he was strong enough to put up a fight for what he believed.

The one called Seth, of all... people. Young, and vulnerable. Bigger than me, by far, but still a _child. _His reaction was what had caused me to falter. He told Seth to think this through, not to attack us over a treaty. The way he stood, proud, holding his arms out like thick iron bars...It reminded me of a man more than a mutt. But he'd been told by the alpha not to get in the way.

A long, guttural snarl had ripped from Sam's throat as he saw us on the other side. He'd exploded into fur, clothing, going everywhere at once. And when he rematerialised, furious, he'd stood before everyone as the wolf. And Seth, knocked aside like some useless rag-doll, had nowhere to run. Absolutely nowhere to go, surrounded on every side. By us, and by them.

Emily's scream had been the loudest as she looked on the boy. She'd hoped for a long time that Sam would be able to control the savage temper inside of him. I had known, and held aside some hope for what would happen next. No matter what the outcome was, nothing that was about to happen to Seth could be pleasant.

But it was over now, deserving my sigh of relief, and Jasper's. And everyone else's. I knew that the wolves, oversized boys with bigger tempers, were perhaps even more happy that this was over than we were. After they'd gotten past the first and only casualty, they'd had the ability to appreciate what should come out of this situation. That now, and only now, we were able to co-exist fairly peacefully. We knew no one wanted another fight, after that one.

It wasn't a victory for either side, not clear-cut like we'd all imagined. We went back to everyday activities, starving ourselves of conflict. It wasn't a fight _anyone _could win. When Seth had died, it had broken open wounds that no one knew how to heal. When I looked at him and imagined someone like Bella in his place, it made sense that we had to stop. And everyone, without me having to say a word, had drawn back from the battle in silence.

But could _she _go back? The future was unclear for her.

Bella could barely even look at herself in the mirror. It was true that she didn't recognize her own reflection. Looking no different than she had for a week, she saw her cold skin as a symbol. It symbolized how she'd made the choice to cut _them _out of her life altogether. Despite loving Edward, loving the entire family, she couldn't get past the dogs. Edward told me that he knew she couldn't see why Seth had to die in her place, when he was only a child. Or maybe he was wondering why Jacob had stood by and watched it happen. I had to admit, any unnecessary casualties, hound or vampire, were still unnecessary.

"Bella?" I whispered, raising my hand to knock on the door. I opened it, quietly, knowing Edward would not move her side to open it, and that she would not get up.

"Alice!" she exclaimed. This was a turn-around. I assumed that she, like myself, knew that she should be grateful that things had turned out for the best. In any situation, this was the best possibility.

She got off of the bed, unnecessary for sleep, now. Her wide red eyes smiled a little bit more than her lips. Edward brushed the hair from her face with one finger, and then helped draw her up. It was almost comical how he touched her delicately, still. She was hard-skinned, and less fragile, but still looked soft. Still Bella.

"It's..." She struggled to make the words. "It's _over_, isn't it?"

I hugged her, looking up into my sister's eyes. "Of course it's over, silly."

A smile broke Edward's face. While he'd been unhappy at the way Bella handled the situation, he still could not get over her new beauty. When I asked him about it, he'd said that she was _always _this beautiful. I knew he couldn't deny her reinforced beauty, though.

She smiled back at me, and I sighed with relief. Her future suddenly shot into realization, clear as a bell. It rang with only Edward, and that made me sigh with relief for the second time. He'd be happy about that much, for certain.

"I love you," she whispered to him. It was not an intense declaration, but a statement of fact. He whispered the same back, and I smiled at them both. It was his love that had brought her through, I _knew _it. And it was his love that would _always _bring her though. The first year, the hardest, and the years to come with even more difficulties.

Edward gave me a grateful look as I left the room. They'd had enough time to be alone, and I did want to talk to her, but she'd have eternity to be with us. That gave me a lot to be thankful for, in the long run.

What _I _had to be thankful for was more than anyone else. I felt it. If Jasper hadn't made it, I...well I couldn't even start to think of the outcome for myself. It was impossible for me to even imagine a life without him.

That was the only reason why I understood Edward's perspective with Bella. She was with the vampires, as she'd explained, but he hadn't wanted her to fight. I understood how he always thought she needed the safety blanket he continued to cover her in. But she explained, time and time again, that she was with the vampires. She was one of us, and she wanted to fight with us. It was a request that, at the time, Edward hadn't been able to refuse.

I knew Jasper was behind me, before I turned around. He was always there, like a shadow. No, not like a shadow, like a beam of light shining on me. My eyes brightened as I looked at him, statue still in the hallway.

"She's calm now," he said. And I silently agreed. "It's all because of him. They're centred around each other. His calm has given her calm, better than I could give, even with my ability."

I walked toward him, reaching my hand for his. The most familiar of touches in the world, and definitely the most beautiful. Edward, Bella, Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, they could _all _argue with me on that one. But there was no other feeling that defeated that one. Jasper's hand made me feel like I was home.

He smiled at the recognition of my feelings. I figured he'd be used to the feeling, after all these years. Still, as he'd mentioned many times and in many different ways, the love I felt for him was stronger than any other feeling he'd felt before. In any other body, from any other person.

I tried to think of the words, but they didn't come out as expected. "They're centred around each other, Jazz, the same way that I could never help but be centred around you."

He grinned at that. "Let's not vanquish Edward and his petty emotions. If he found out that I loved you more than he loved Bella..." he shook his head, laughing as he did.

But it had to be true. How could anyone love someone more than I loved Jasper? It wasn't a contest, though, even if we knew who the winners would be.

I frowned at something that had just recently risen in my thoughts. "Jacob," I whispered, remembering the difficult conversation with Edward just yesterday, and he instantly understood.

"Should we tell her?" Jasper asked me. I nodded in response, and we turned towards their room. I had to tell her, but I didn't really want to. Edward thought it would be good for her to know, but he was being a little bit smug. It was what he had warned Jacob of, in loving Bella.

Edward came into the hall, closing the door behind him. Bella was waiting for him to come back, but he'd said that he needed to talk to us, which was indeed essential.

"We think it's best that you just tell her, Edward," I told him firmly. Everyone agreed with us on the matter. It was important that she knew what was going on with the _pack, _even if we only knew the logistics of it.

We walked out to the garden, where there was no danger of her overhearing. Her new senses could be inconvenient at times, that much was sure.

"She'll be..." Edward put his right hand over the side of his face, closing his eyes. His little finger was on his nose, the ring and middle fingers on each corner of his eye. He waited this way before continuing, only moving his fingers to his temple. "It's _Jacob. _I just don't know if she'll be relieved or..."

Jasper put his hand on Edward's shoulder, and he calmed a little. "I know it's hard, Edward," Jasper soothed. "But I think it's what Bella wanted for him. It's what _you_ wanted for him, too."

Jacob and Edward were on better terms now. After the dog had realized that someone more his... _breed _had feelings for him, and stepped away from Bella at last, they'd formed a slightly unconventional truce. I didn't mind it, and Rosalie didn't like it. Bella, if she knew, would be accepting of it. But Edward avoided this conversation with her as if it was the Spanish Influenza.

Edward knew it was what he had hoped for, in a way. He'd told me before that he knew Jacob wasn't best for Bella, that something to this effect would happen. As his thoughts and feelings were confirmed, he wondered if she would react the way he thought she would, or the way he hoped she would.

"It will be fine, Edward," I said, a little more worried than I expressed. "We'll only be waiting in Emmett and Rosalie's room. Besides-" I giggled "-She chose you, after all. More than that, she made a choice. She wouldn't have gone back to him, so she doesn't expect him to go back to her."

My words sounded so much more sure than I felt. It was sometimes difficult, watching him worry for her. I may have been unsure, this concerning Jacob, but I knew that Edward's one-and-only would absorb this sort of news better than some other news in the past.

--

"He's being pretty _dense,_" Emmett muttered, looking at me from across the room. Rosalie was scowling more than usual, sitting with her legs crossed on the corner of their bed.

"No, he's not!" I protested. "How would you feel if–"

The corner of Rosalie's mouth turned upwards in a half-smile. "If I was in love with a werewolf who dumped me for _Leah? _I don't think that's going to happen."

Her sarcasm made Emmett grin in response as well, while I just pouted a bit. It seemed as if he and Rosalie were the only ones who weren't the least bit sympathetic. They didn't really understand the plight Edward had been in since Italy.

Emmett started for the door. "Well I'm going to stretch out in the hall." He flexed his arms. "I'll let you guys know what Bella says."

"No way!" I shouted, my voice raising a couple octaves. "She might hear you and know we were listening!"

Jasper looked at me sideways. "If she didn't hear_ that_, you mean."

I sighed in defeat, getting up from the bed. "Fine. If you're going, Emmett, I am, too."

Jasper was already at my side. He'd prefer not to have me go somewhere he wasn't, even if it was only outside the door.

We looked at Rosalie, now sprawled on the love-seat with her arms behind her head. "Me? Miss out on the party?" We all knew she'd been secretly dying to know what Bella would say to this. It was all better than a soap-opera to her.

Emmett pressed his ear to the door, though he didn't need to. We all stood behind him as he brought a finger to his grinning lips. Pantomiming, he gestured for us to move forward. We could, of course, hear their quiet voices plainly through the door.

"I just thought..." Bella paused. "I thought he'd _tell _me. I am his friend, at least, I thought I deserved that much. I would have wanted to know that he was in love. And happy."

"Of course you deserve that much, Bella," Edward said softly. "And more."

There was a long pause. Emmett gagged.

"So, she imprinted on him? I didn't even think that could happen..."

"Aren't you being a tiny bit hypocritical? Here you were standing your ground every time someone said they didn't think humans and vampires could fall in love. What makes Leah so different? Besides her patience in putting up with him, I mean." He chuckled.

"It's not truly surprising," Bella said assertively. "But it is funny that he didn't notice. She'd loved him for so long..." Her laugh reverberated. She was very _loud. _"That's just like Jake, to be so blind. Especially after he saved her from that newborn and she was so worried..."

"I remembered that you were capable of being so reasonable."

I held back a laugh. He had expected quite the opposite reaction from her, not that he'd ever tell _her _that. I smiled, pleased that she was fine with it. Would she insist to go to the wedding, though? No, after all the fuss with the treaties, she wouldn't want to go on Quileute land again.

Edward had told me in confidence all the problems with mind-reading in the pack. It wasn't specific, working with emotions and pictures more strongly than words. Jacob had been paying so close attention to Bella, that he hadn't been listening to Leah. And when he had, he thought she was mourning over Sam. In fact, she'd been mourning over her _new _lost cause.

"But Jacob...He wouldn't want me there again. It's for the best, I know, but I'm _dead _to him. He wouldn't want me, even as a friend, like this."

Another long pause.

Edward had known the reason why she would never speak to her former best friend again. It wasn't just her smell, or her state of being, it was what she thought it would do to him. He was intensely worried that if she saw the mongrel, she would fall in love with him all over again. Almost as much as he was with her. It was ludicrous, since she loved Edward _more. _That ought to count for something, I thought.

I guess I didn't see her point of view. He was everything to her, so how could someone else really matter enough for her to blink twice? The way Edward was with Bella...how could any other person -or hound- compete with that?

"I knew he would do this to you," Edward changed the subject. "That's why I couldn't let him take you. I knew there would be someone for him, just like you're meant for me."

"But what if she doesn't treat him the way..." She sighed deeply. "I'm happy he's found her, but at what price? If he tries to save her again, and it doesn't work...or if he ends up bandaged, and I never know, because I'm here...and I never get a chance to say–" Her voice stopped abruptly. I saw what was coming, now.

"Emmett!" Rosalie hissed, just next to me. "They're having a private conversation!"

"Don't you want to know Rosie?" He laughed. The booming sound echoed in the hallway, and she hit her forehead with her hand.

"Know _what, _Emmett?" Edward opened the door, looking anything but amused. Bella just looked down in her usual embarrassment. Even without the tripping or blushing, she looked completely mortified.

"I'm sorry!" Emmett shouted. "I surrender!" Edward had him in a headlock, and they just wrestled with one another for a while. Jasper watched them, a little bit entertained, and so did Rosalie. I shared an acknowledging smile with Bella.

Both of them had obviously known we were in the hall. You couldn't _not _hear us there with a vampire's hearing ability. Even so, Edward had probably trusted that we wouldn't eavesdrop. Trusted _wrongly, _in Emmett's case. I smiled, knowing that I was just as guilty as he was. It was funnier knowing that Edward recognized that, too.

When they let each other go, Edward placed his arm comfortingly around Bella's waist. She looked grateful for his touch. More than that, she looked appreciative of everything. Of him changing her, of her new family, of the life she now could easily accept. It slid into place easier than any of us expected, even with the wolf fiasco.

And while I knew she missed_ Jacob _-my mouth curled as I thought the dog's name- I also knew that there was no going back for her. She knew, too, as soon as the venom had touched her veins, that this was the life she had chosen. With the consequences, there could be no casual visits to the immature boys of the tribe. And she absorbed that idea readily and thoughtfully.

She knew that this new life she had became a part of was not one without complication. There was no choice that did not alter the course of life in any way, and no exception to the rule for her.

From the moment Edward had lain his eyes on her, Bella's life could never be the same. But without him being there, she would not have been saved. In more ways than one, Edward had _saved _Bella. And, of course, there was no doubting the countless ways she had saved him.

I had explained to her many times what being my sister would entail. Edward thought it was important that she hear it from someone else. Besides the good things, there were many sacrifices. With the enhanced pleasure came the enhanced pain. Her impatience and anger would be reinforced. Her movements and senses would be altered, and her _feelings. _More rational, more careful, she could think through the situations more clearly. She would understand the rationality behind every negative feeling toward Jacob. Or so I'd thought. I'd_ thought _her feelings towards the wolves would alter drastically, as well, though they clearly hadn't. Maybe if she could _smell _Jacob, she would realize how we felt about him.

There was the matter of blood, too, though she seemed to be a little more resilient to that. Human blood didn't have the same appeal to her as it did to us, but she still wanted blood as intently as any newborn. Craving_ animal _blood was a decent gift, one Jasper certainly would have wished for.

I looked into Bella's eyes, and she stared back. She was a _Cullen _now, I realized with a start. She had always seemed to be a Cullen to me, since I thought of her as a sister. Especially since each time she looked at Edward with that fond adoration. He could never harm her now, even by accident. And she would never think for a moment that she didn't compare to him. They could never truly _need _another. Not from the moment that twilight had passed.

But now a new kind of twilight was coming. Not the same as the one she had left behind, the one of the night. Because to her, leaving behind humanity was like leaving behind the night rather than the day. She'd told me herself that the heightened senses made it feel that she was walking in a new life, blissful and peaceful.

When she'd walked outside to _really _look at the nighttime sky for the first time, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She'd asked Edward how he could ever have looked at her, when she sky alone was so much more beautiful. It was sad, but sweet the way he pulled her close and said the sky only held his attention before he saw her.

And I couldn't help but smile at that.

This was the other twilight, for her, the twilight before sunrise. In her life, dawn was breaking and the sky was turning from black to blue, outlined in purple, pink, and gold. A cloudless sky with Edward, the purest of lives. She hadn't died to be with him, she'd finally begun to live.

Bella laughed at me. "Quit snoozing, Alice, you have the whole day to sleep!"

I guess my rambling thoughts had been made aware to someone other than Edward. Bella was so perceptive, since the change, though she'd always been good at understanding her surroundings.

I tilted my head a little to look at her. And then I grinned. "Your future is full of Edward," I said nonchalantly, pretending the daydreams were visions. The idea that her future was consumed with Edward would have very little effect on her, since she knew as I did that Edward was a permanent melody in her life. The two of them together were like a beautiful composition, written by the higher-power I'd always doubted the existence of.

She sighed, looking up at Edward. Speaking at me, she continued to gaze peacefully at him. "My future isn't full of Edward, it _is _Edward." They both smiled at her nine simple words.

Emmett groaned. "In case either of you have forgotten, my little sister promised me an arm-wrestle!"

Rosalie sighed, but smiled. "Beat him into a pulp, Bella! We know his ego could use it!" Edward was approving of the way she seemed to be getting along with her lately. The stark improvement was one that left us all satisfied.

She looked up with a grimace. "I didn't promise, Emmett!" But she followed him reluctantly, Edward holding onto her the entire way. Rosalie followed too, sprinting forward to Emmett's side.

At first, Rosalie had been much worse than before. She'd refused to talk to Bella, even more horrible to her than she was to Edward most of the time. But like...breathing...with instinct, she let down her guard. It only took one time, one explanation, and Rosalie was fine again. Bella had told her why she'd chosen to fight, to protect, to use her strength to stand with her family. And Rosalie had smiled.

I just stood there for a moment, thinking about everything that had passed, and everything yet to come. It had been a while since such emotion had filled me up. Jasper told me that I was like a flame on a candle, constantly moving and shifting place. But now it seemed that the future was so utterly permanent, I didn't need to move to fit it. Everything was as it should be. And I no longer flickered, I stood completely still, right where I was.

Out the big windows to my right, The glass didn't hide the real sunrise through the trees. I smiled at the thought of sun, for once. Our last day in Forks, and we couldn't even go into town. Not that we would. Placidly, the sun eased the tension of the last few days inside of me.

"It's a happy beginning," I said, looking at Jasper who'd come over to wrap his arms around me and rest his head on top of mine.

The warmth that touched his eyes was beautiful, exceptionally lit by the sun radiating through the glass. "Without all the hassles of endings," he agreed.

Once the sun had risen all the way in the sky, A new smile lit my face, brighter than any before it today. There would be no ending to the dawn.


End file.
